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Topic: Conveyor pizza oven (Read 5481 times)

Hello Shop Talk, I'm in the process of opening a pizza shop and was to know if anyone had suggestions on conveyor pizza ovens. I've been shopping around and the two predominant brands seem to be Middleby Marshall and Lincoln Impinger. I plan to have a dual deck electric system, because to run the gas lines to the location is ridiculously expensive. Also i plan to buy them used so if anyone has any advice as to how old they should be or what to look out for and or avoid i would greatly appreciate it.

XLT is a great oven, and they have superb back up assistance to boot, even if you did not buy the ovens from them, they will still totally support any ovens with their name on it. Keep in mind that when buying ANY oven that it may not be what it appears to be. While any XLT, Edge, Middleby-Marshall, Lincoln, or Avantec oven might appear to be a pizza oven, this does not mean that it was profiled as a pizza oven when it left the factory or was used in a different application. For example, a number of years ago there was a young fellow who had just bought a used Lincoln air impingement conveyor oven, but try as he did, he could not get it to bake a decent pizza. When I asked my friend at Lincoln to run the serial number for me we discovered that the oven was origionally bought by a major seafood restaurant chain, and it left the factory with a proprietary finger profile designed specifically to bake.....you guessed it, seafood, not pizza. He had to spend another $700.00 to get the right finger profile to use the oven to bake pizzas. Moral of the story, know what you are buying before plunking your change down on the counter. If you do an "In Lehmann's Terms" archive search at www.pmq.com you should find my article covering all aspects of buying a used air impingement oven. My bottom line advice is to know what the power source is (electric in your case) and also the model number which is also the size designation, such as 32-55 (32-inches wide by 55-inches long) and then call XLT <www.xltovens.com> or 888-443-2751 and ask to speak to someone about the recommended top and bottom finger configuration for that particular oven when used for baking pizzas. You will then need to pull the fingers to confirm what you have or will need to make that particular oven work for you.I hope this helps,Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor

I purchased 4 XLT's 6 years ago and I am very happy with them. I Can't speak for the electric because we use gas. I have yet to make a service call on one of them. One of the stores broke the sandwich window a couple of years ago and my first thought was " well, there goes $500 ". To my amazement it cost me less than $100. We also get a great bake. Sales have steadily increased since we installed them.

Thanks Tom! I have spoken to several used oven vendors in my area and some they don't really seem to know any details on their used ovens. So i really appreciate your tip on the profile. I also received an e brochure from XLT and they are very detailed all their equipment. I'm just trying to save a little on cost and maybe find a used XLT in good standing order. Although It's been really hard in my area. They all seem to be Middleby Marshall and Lincoln Impinger. I will definitely read your article on pqm.

Airruiz;I have a good friend here in Manhattan, KS with three pizza stores and he has had some very good luck finding used XLT's as well as used Marsall deck ovens on the internet. Another very good resource on ovens of all kinds is George Mills. George is a regular at the PMQ Think Tank. Just make a posting in the Think Tank directed to George Mills and he'll be sure to respond to any questions you might have on ovens, hoods, or just about any other store equipment or design.Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor